Project: Unfinished
by Sakrea
Summary: Working on an unfinished project like this one can lead to both savory and unsavory results. Thundercracker/Soundwave, WFC verse, Pre-War


Soundwave ignored the snarling coming from the cage behind him. He'd dealt with the cyber-cat enough today and was content to let his creation throw a fit behind it's the bars of its cage.

"Whoa, what's his problem?"

Soundwave turned, letting his optics settle on his partner. "Answer: Ravage, ill trained." He answered simply.

Thundercracker raised an optic ridged and snorted. "Ill trained doesn't quite cover it." He replied, examining the form in the cage. The black feline snarled and swiped a paw at him. The blue seeker retreated a step.

Soundwave turned back around to face the computer terminal he was working on. The window dominating the screen showed the long, basic code set into Ravage's processor. He was notably nervous that there was a serious glitch in his programming that was responsible for this overly aggressive behavior. He released a soft, monotone sigh. So far there was no sign of any problem, which meant there could be no solution.

A hand settled on his shoulder and he glanced back to find Thundercracker staring grimly at him. "Don't worry, we'll fix him."

"Comfort: Unnecessary." Soundwave answered. "Problem: Will be solved."

The blue seeker shrugged and removed his hand. "Fine." He said nonchalantly. "Care to share your analysis then?"

"Analysis: Inconclusive." Soundwave replied easily.

Thundercracker didn't look surprised. The two scientists had been working together on this project since the beginning. When Soundwave had first suggested the idea of host-bound creations, or cassettes as they had begun to call them, Thundercracker had reluctantly got on board. As the project progressed and the two had created the first of the cassettes, Ravage, and the seeker fully committed himself to the project. Like Soundwave, he seemed to possess a parental bond with the ill behaved sparkling.

"When he calms down, I'll take a shot at that new training method then." Thundercracker said, not seeming particularly enthusiastic about it.

Soundwave gave him a nod in response. Ignoring the moist feeling that dribbled off of his chin and pooled on his chest plating, he turned from his partner to look over the programming on the screen.

He was allowed only a moment before a firm hand clamped down on his shoulder and he was spun around.

"What is that?" Thundercracker demanded, pointing a digit accusingly at the other mech's face.

"Answer: Face mask." Soundwave replied, voice deadpan.

Thundercracker shot him a hard glare and shoved his finger forward, swiping a few drops of the liquid off of his chin. "uThis./u" he demanded once more, thrusting the faintly glowing pink liquid toward him.

"Answer: Energon."

"And why is it coming out from behind your face mask?"

Soundwave hesitated, optics flickering behind his visor. He started to shrug, but the blue seeker jabbed him hard in the chest with his finger.

"Why were your training Ravage without your face mask? He could have torn you face off!" Thundercracker snapped. "Frag it, I thought it was weird that you were still wearing it! You were trying to hide it from me!"

"Ravage: Suspicious." Soundwave admitted slowly. "Removal of face mask: A sign of trust."

"We don't even know if he is capable of sentient thought!" the seeker shouted. "Trust isn't the issue here!"

Soundwave just gave a half-sparked shrug, causing several more drops of energon to fall onto his chest.

Thundercracker's scowl darkened at the sight. "Mask down." He ordered. "Now."

Soundwave took an instinctual step back. "Intention: Unclear."

"Just take it off!" Thundercracker snapped.

Soundwave took another step back, bumping into the computer terminal behind him. "Violence: Possible. Request: Denied."

Thundercracker pinned him with a glare. "It's not a request." The seeker held the look for several more moments before he turned stiffly and yanked a nearby drawer open.

Soundwave's optics flickered in surprise when he saw that Thundercracker had drawn a repair kit from the drawer. He let his shoulders fall slightly as he relaxed. "Question: Repairs necessary?" he asked.

Thundercracker popped open the kit and removed a tube of clotting salve. "Yes, now take your mask off."

The injured mech hesitated for a moment, testing the idea of a possible threat. Silently assuring himself that the seeker was a friend and would not harm him, he reached up and released the latches on the mask.

"Primus, Soundwave." Thundercracker sighed, watching as the mask was drawn away and the sight of three, deep, bleeding gashes shown on the mech's left cheek. "Worse than I thought…" he muttered.

Soundwave was comforted to see that the other scientist's anger had ebbed in favor of sympathy toward the injury. Although that didn't stop him from retreating when the seeker approached with a finger full of the clotting salve. Once more, his progress was impeded when he bumped into the computer terminal. "Request: Wait." He said nervously. He winced, the movement of his mouth pulling painfully at the gash that touched the corner of his mouth.

Thundercracker reached out with his free hand, snagging the back of the mech's neck to restrain him. "Just hold still, I won't hurt you." He assured him, optics focusing on the gashes. Energon was still leaking steadily along each of the three lines.

Despite the emotionless look drawn across his exposed faceplates, Soundwave still felt a good deal of pain from the injury. The initial burning sting hadn't faded and each mouth movement caused a sharp pain to radiate across the area. He hardly wanted anyone to touch it.

Soundwave released an involuntary whimper when Thundercracker's finger smoothed the thick salve across one of the cuts. At first, the simple pressure hurt, but soon a cool, dry feeling followed, dulling the stinging ache. Just as its name suggested, the substance clotted the cut, stemming the flow of energon and allowing his natural repair systems to take over.

"Wasn't bad was it?" Thundercracker asked, smirking at the pathetic noise.

Soundwave shook his head minutely. No, it wasn't bad. The pain was mostly gone and other then a new stiffness in his face plates, it felt fine.

The blue seeker spread more of the clotting salve on his finger before raising it back up to his partner's cheek. This time when he spread it over the middle cut, he received no reaction from him. He repeated the process with the last cut and got similar results.

Thundercracker withdrew the hand, but kept the other firmly holding Soundwave's neck. He tilted the other mech's head, peering down at him silently. There was a stretch of silence then where the two mechs kept their optics trained on each other.

"Restraint: Unnecassary." Soundwave said after a moment, a bit unsure of the reason he was still being contained.

Thundercracker smirked and dropped a brief kiss on the top of the other mech's helm. "I know, I was just thinking." He replied, dropping his hand and shifting so his arm was draped across the darker mech's shoulder.

Soundwave ducked his head and pressed himself softly into his partner's side. He and Thundercracker had begun to share a mutual affection that neither had discussed in any real detail, thus he felt strangely timid whenever the seeker coddled him.

Of course, Thundercracker only seemed amused by the reaction and pulled him tighter against him. "I think we should spend more time away from our work."

Soundwave glanced up at him, face set in slight confusion. "Reason: Unclear."

"Ravage needs time to calm down." The seeker replied, flicking his chin in the direction of the still snarling cyber-cat. "And strangely… Seeing you with battle scars is a bit of a turn on…" he mused, smirking.

Soundwave gave a soft nod, but ducked his head at the strange compliment. One of his hands reached up to gently touch the gashes.

Thundercracker caught the hand and lifted it to his lips, pressing a kiss to the joints. "They look fine." He assured him, grinning.

"Reassurance: Appreciated." Soundwave admitted. It was odd to see the seeker be so romantically open, but it was not unwelcome. Although, the reason for the affection still struck him as strange.

Squeezing the hand lightly, Thundercracker shuffled the mech closer to his side. He made a contented humming sound when Soundwave molded himself against his side.

By that time, neither noticed that Ravage had ceased snarling in favor of curling up in the corner of his cage.


End file.
